FACE-À-FACE

Info

FACE-À-FACE

Geschiedenis

Face-à-face is a nomadic project which aim is to bring together two artists who do not necessarily know each other, to enable their works to confront one another in an exhibition.
They are not being asked to collaborate to create joint works, but instead to use works they have already created as a basis for original convergences. The first stage is a visit to each other’s studios to initiate their dialogue and identify appropriate pieces for this "chess game". The artists are then entirely free to add to the composition by creating contextual works. It is our hope that this association will make it possible to present certain aspects of their work which is not always apparent in solo exhibitions. I envisage these Face-à-Face encounters as "revelatory" crystallisations.

This project is beginning with an exhibition by two artists from the same generation who both live in Brussels, the French painter Xavier Noiret-Thomé and the Belgian sculptor Paul Casaer. It seemed relevant to me to bring these two artists together in an exhibition because although their practices and references appear at first sight to be unrelated, there are nevertheless real connections between their approaches which merit greater attention. Notable similarities include the way they borrow certain iconographic elements from popular culture, as well as poetry and the delicate humour which emanates from their works.

The title of the exhibition Contransmagnificandjewbangtantiality is a portmanteau word from James Joyce’s Ulysses. This word is comical, serious and elusive all at the same time, which aptly reflects the work of Paul Casaer and Xavier Noiret-Thomé.